Nico Hülkenberg was happy to finish seventh in the final race before the summer break, and felt it was the best result he could have hoped for at the Hockenheimring on Sunday.
The Sahara Force India driver switched from a two to a three-stop strategy during the race, which paid dividends when he manage to close down and pass the struggling Williams of Valtteri Bottas, who stuck to a two-stop strategy and ultimately dropped from seventh to ninth in the closing laps.
“Seventh was probably the best result available to us today, so it feels good to get the maximum from our race and score some important points,” reflected Hülkenberg.
“The team did a great job with the strategy because we went into the race believing a two-stopper was possible, but then made an early decision to switch to three stops. It was definitely the right way to go and allowed me to take seventh place in the final few laps.
“The tyre degradation was very high so most of the race was about managing the tyres. It was also quite a lonely and straightforward race because my main fight was against Bottas and we were running different strategies.
“So it’s a happy Nico and a happy team. We can look forward to the summer break and aim to carry this momentum forward in the second part of the season.”
